NARIMASU ALUMNI ASSOCIATION REUNION 2008

PORTLAND 2008  REUNION

Forty-four Narimasu High School alumni and 23 guests gathered at the Red Lion Inn Jantzen Beach in Portland, Oregon, July 31 – August 2, 2008 for the high school reunion held every even-numbered year in rotating locations throughout the U.S.   

Mike Brown (’70), Reunion Chairperson, had organized a sensational weekend for all, complete with a lovely Thursday evening reception and Saturday evening dinner dance and silent auction.  The daily hospitality suite (flowing with delicious snacks and libations) served as a gathering place where classmates could reconnect, share high school adventures in our adopted Japanese homeland, catch up with current life and activities, laugh until it hurt, and pretend we were 15-18 years young again.  As a sign of the times, the hospitality suite had a laptop computer featuring the Narimasu High School Alumni Association Web site – www.narimasu.org.   It also served as a handy search tool -- when an absent alum’s name would arise, Google was put into action.    

Attendees could often be found reminiscing in the room set aside for the ever popular memento footlocker full of “historic” relics (Sensu yearbooks, Dragon’s Roar newspapers, Dragon’s Roar Again newsletters, photographs, scrapbooks, sports uniforms, and other memory joggers). 

In their spare time attendees toured Portland’s beautiful gardens (rose, Japanese, and Chinese) and neighborhoods plus the surrounding Mt. Hood, Mt. St. Helens, Columbia River Gorge, and the Pacific coastline.  Others visited Portland’s renowned book stores (Annie Bloom’s and Powell’s), ate at delicious restaurants, and went white water rafting.

NAA President Sue Marshall (’66) and her fellow board members led an association business meeting, attended by about 30 alums on Saturday morning, August 1. Agenda items were

• A treasurer’s report – the current NAA treasury contains $17,893 (funded by membership dues and reunion registration fees).
• A membership report – NAA has 259 dues paying members.
• An explanation of how the Narimasu graduate database is maintained (we depend on all members to keep us informed of missing alums and their own contact information).
• A call for nominations for the 2009-2011 Board of Directors (election to be held before December 31, 2008).
• A decision to appoint a NAA bylaws committee that will consider amending the bylaws to include staggered terms for the officers, to assure continuity and succession planning.
• An explanation that the memento footlocker will be donated to the American Overseas Schools Historical Society in Wichita, Kansas when all of us have passed on.
• A call for suggestions for future reunion sites.
• Accolades to Sue Marshall for her 4 years as NAA President, and Mike Brown for his work as NAA Reunion Chair.   

George Campbell (class of 1949) was the most senior alum attending and Mike Brown, Emmet Hawkins, Janet McDonald Schoenwetter, and Ron Montgomery represented the most junior alums (class of 1970).